What the fee covers, when it's due, what the replacement guarantee protects, and what would extend a search. Most firms make you ask for this on a call. Here it is.
Every engagement starts with a 30-minute consultation. We cover the role at a high level, the level and compensation band, your timeline, and what has made the seat difficult so far. You leave knowing whether we would take the search, what it would cost, and what the engagement involves. There is no cost and no commitment.
If we both want to proceed, we send an agreement. The search begins at kickoff, after the agreement is signed — a full working session where we assess the seat itself: scope, reporting line, success profile, and the retention risks specific to this role. That assessment is part of the engagement, not a precursor to it.
Every search is retained and paid in three equal installments: one at engagement, one on delivery of your shortlist, and one at placement. Each installment is earned when the corresponding milestone is delivered and is not refundable.
At engagement we agree the compensation band in writing and calculate an estimated fee on the midpoint. The first two installments are one-third of that estimate each. The third installment reconciles to the actual first-year base: if the placement lands above the midpoint you pay the difference, and if it lands below, the fee recalculates on actual and we refund any overage.
If no band is agreed at engagement, we estimate on the maximum you have budgeted for the role.
What's included at no extra charge: role scoping, market mapping, direct outreach, candidate screening and assessment, the shortlist brief, interview coordination, reference checks, offer support, and check-ins through the guarantee window.
Only if you ask for it and approve the cost in writing in advance: paid job advertising, third-party background or credential verification, psychometric testing, and any travel we undertake at your request. We do not mark these up. In a typical search, none of them are used.
There is no minimum fee. A replacement search under the guarantee does not trigger a new engagement fee.
Everything below is part of the fee. There is no separate charge for any of it.
Our work is executive search. The seat assessment exists to make the search credible and the placement durable — it is not a legal, financial, clinical, compliance, governance, compensation-design, HR, or organizational-development review. You retain responsibility for all organizational decisions and any changes you choose to make. Where something falls outside our scope, we will tell you what it means for the search and, if it helps, point you toward someone who does that work.
A search runs on both sides. In signing, you agree to:
These aren't formalities. Each one is a condition we have seen extend a search or cost a placement.
If a leader we place leaves the role within the guarantee window for your tier — 90, 120, or 180 days, measured from their start date — we run one replacement search for the same role at no additional professional fee.
Why the exclusions exist, plainly. Our guarantee covers the part we control: whether we assessed the right person for the seat as it was described to us. It cannot cover the seat changing after the leader arrives — which, in our experience, is the most common reason a good placement comes apart. That's precisely why we assess the seat as carefully as the candidate before the search begins.
Tell us in writing within 15 business days of the departure. The replacement search begins on the same terms and the same timeline, and carries a fresh guarantee window from the replacement's start date. The guarantee applies once per placement.
If a replacement search is still open at 120 days, we will review it with you and agree a path forward in writing — which may include continuing the search at no additional fee, adjusting the specification, or concluding the engagement by mutual agreement.
We commit to a shortlist within six weeks of kickoff and, for most searches, a signed offer within eight to twelve weeks. That timeline assumes the search runs as scoped. The following pause the clock, and we will tell you at the time by how much:
None of these void the guarantee. They adjust the timeline, and we will put the revised date in writing when they occur.
Retained searches are exclusive for their duration. We do not work alongside other firms on the same role, and we do not run contingency searches at any level. If you have another firm working the role, tell us before we start — it changes what we can commit to.
If you hire a candidate we introduced for a substantially similar role within 12 months of the introduction, the fee for that role's tier applies. This does not apply to candidates you can document were already in your active pipeline before our introduction.
We will not recruit from your organization for the duration of the engagement and for 12 months after a placement.
Yours. We treat the existence of the search, the reasons behind it, your compensation data, and anything you tell us at kickoff as confidential. We will not name you as a client publicly without your written permission. Where a search must stay confidential internally — an incumbent still in the seat, a restructure not yet announced — tell us at kickoff and we will agree in writing who knows what, and run the search without a public posting.
Theirs. Healthcare is a small world, and the leaders worth hiring are usually still employed. A rumor that a sitting CFO or CNO is in a process can reach a board, a medical staff, or a service line before anything is decided — and it can cost that person their current role. We approach candidates directly and privately, we never disclose their identity to you before they consent, and we never name your organization to a candidate until they have agreed to a confidential conversation. This is the reason our outreach is slower than a posting, and it is not negotiable.
You may end a search at any time in writing. Fees earned to that point — the engagement fee, and for Tier 3 any milestone installment already delivered — are retained. Nothing further is owed. We will hand over the market map and candidate status so the work isn't lost.
If we conclude we cannot fill the role as scoped, we will tell you rather than let a search drift. If that happens before we deliver a shortlist, we refund the engagement fee in full.
Ask them now rather than after signing. Everything here is negotiable at the margins, and we would rather adjust a term up front than discover a misunderstanding at week six.
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